East Ridge resident warns rising fill will push floodwaters into Cedar Glen; city unveils 15‑day stormwater plan draft
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Summary
A resident told the East Ridge City Council that recent fill in the Camp Jordan/Bass Pro area is worsening flooding for nearby neighborhoods. City engineers said a citywide drainage inventory is underway and a draft stormwater management plan will be available in about 15 days; staff pledged to investigate the specific fill activity.
A packed East Ridge City Council chamber heard an extended public comment on Feb. 26 about repeated neighborhood flooding tied by one resident to recent development activity near Camp Jordan.
Tyler Capra, who lives on Martha Avenue and said he grew up in Cedar Glen, told the council dump trucks had been bringing in dirt to a corner near Camp Jordan Parkway and Ringgold Road and asked "Where's that water gonna go? Homes." He said the work has been visible for several days and urged the city for answers within a week or two, warning that raising land without removing lower soils displaces water onto nearby houses.
City staff responded that state and county stormwater rules apply to development and that the city has contracted an infrastructure assessment. "There are regulations that they shouldn't be putting dirt in the floodway," said Jeff, the city engineer, and he described an ongoing inventory of pipes, culverts and open ditches. Jeff told council the assessment team has completed the inventory and was roughly "halfway through with the assessment" and putting data into the city's CAD mapping system.
Staff said the findings will drive prioritized projects such as removing obstructions in Spring Creek and West Camargo Creek and repairing undersized or failing pipes. The city committed to produce a draft stormwater management program within about 15 days for council review and said it would follow up specifically on the fill activity in the Bass Pro corner to verify permits and any required hydrologic studies.
Mayor Williams and the council thanked the resident for bringing photos and said the City Manager and engineering staff would investigate. Council members noted that new developments must size detention ponds and meet county review but acknowledged many older neighborhoods were built without detention and that the August storm revealed aging infrastructure.
The city emphasized that remediation options include cleaning or upsizing pipes, removing obstructions, improving detention, and targeted replacement projects; staff cautioned that some fixes require money and multi‑step prioritization.
The council did not take formal action at the meeting but instructed staff to report back and to circulate the stormwater management draft when available.